Seafoam Island
by Syphos
Summary: Lance visits Blaine's relocated gym on Seafoam Islands and, after a battle with its leader, decides to stay there for some time.
1. Intro

**DISCLAIMER : I DON'T OWN THE POKÉMON(TM) FRANCHISE, NOR ANYTHING RELATED TO IT, NOR THE SONGS THAT MAY BE (OR NOT) PUBLISHED ACCOMPANYING THE STORY. I HUMBLY BEG NINTENDO TO FORGIVE ME THE USE OF THEIR CHARACTERS AND AT THE SAME TIME SOLEMNLY SWEAR (THAT I'M UP TO NO GOOD) THAT I'LL SEND THEM A PART IN CASE I EVER MAKE MONEY FROM POKÉMON. SYPHOS OUT.**

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><p>[This is a little story I wrote about two Pokémon characters I like very much, Lance and Blaine (actually I'm not that fond of Blaine, he just seemed like a good company for young Lance). The story will be published in chapters, one every couple of days, so... I hope you enjoy, don't hesitate to criticize me, I'm not a native speaker. If you're still reading this, thank you :)]<p>

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><p><strong>Seafoam Island<strong>

The bright moon was enlightening a large, abandoned island where a young red-haired man, dressed in black and red overalls, and wrapped up in a black cape, accompanied by his little Bagon, was walking around. Although it was extremely late, the moonlight was giving the impression of daytime. Huge rocks and solid lava were everywhere, and this island really didn't look like a place you'd want to build your holiday house on. This, however, is nothing peculiar, as most islands look like that after volcanic eruptions devastate them. Aforementioned island was called Cinnabar Island in its times of glory, but was referred to as 'that big pile of rocks' in these days.

Cinnabar Island used to be an extremely important science center of Kanto before the eruption, but everything was transferred to more convenient places now. The only thing not rebuilt and moved was the old Fire-type gym, because the eccentric Blaine, leader of the gym, refused to move anywhere, as he made his new gym in the nearby island, part of the archipelago called Seafoam Islands. And I really mean 'in' the island, because it was literally carved into stone.

Anyway, as Lance was strolling around the island, he was asking himself more and more, why the hell did he fly here in the first place. Since he saw everything there was to be seen on that island (rocks), he made the only rational decision he could, meaning he left. However, because he had so much fun on his trip so far, he decided to fly over on the Seafoam Islands. This was easiest thing ever, since he had his own Dragonite, which would carry him wherever he fancied. So, they flew over to the largest of the Seafoam Islands, where Blaine has built his residence.

"Hello, is anyone there?" Lance shouted.

Soon after that, a man came out of the shadow: "Yeah, I'm there. What the hell do you want? It's the middle of the night, for heaven's sake!"

"Oh, sorry to interrupt you, sir," Lance apologized.

The man, who barked at Lance, appeared quite older than the latter one. He was already completely bald and had thick, gray moustache. He was also wearing large, round sunglasses, which looked a couple of decades old. Apart from that, he was dressed in a scientific-fashioned way, as he was wearing a long, white laboratory coat.

"Apology accepted; now just let me show you to the guest room, and the first thing in the morning, we battle. You did come here because of that, did you not?"

"Correctly, sir. I did."


	2. The Battle

Lance had serious insomnious issues that night, which was logical since he was just a few hours from a match with an overwhelmingly experienced trainer. He was both anxious and afraid, though anxiousness was more distinctive, since he had absolutely nothing to lose in case of a defeat. So, after a restless night, he dressed up, ate his breakfast – famous cinnabar volcano burger and went down to the basement, where the gym was located. Blaine was already there.

"Good morning," he said: "I hope you had a good night sleep and that you'll be able to battle at full power today."

"Well, I've had better nights than this one, but this will not result in my performance in any way."

"In that case, I'm really looking forward to the match. Shall we start right away?"

"Sure, no problem with me."

"Very well, go Arcanine!"

"I choose you, Gyarados!"

"Arcanine, use Extremespeed!"

"Gyarados, use Dragon Dance."

This was not as painful for Gyarados, as it was for Arcanine. It was because now Gyarados was faster than Arcanine, and furthermore, he raised his Attack stat, which was at zero again, since Intimidate ability lowered the Attacks of both Pokémon.

"Arcanine, use Extremespeed again!"

"Now Gyarados, strike with Waterfall!"

Gyarados was quite harmed by now, but Arcanine was down with one hit.

"Return, Arcanine. Go, Rapidash! Rapidash, use Quick Attack!"

This time, Gyarados was the knocked-out one.

"Return, Gyarados," called Lance: "Go, Aerodactyl!"

"Aerodactyl, use Rock Slide!"

"Rapidash, use Flare Blitz!"

The combined damage of Aerodactyl's attack and recoil damage knocked out Rapidash, while Aerodactyl didn't seem seriously damaged.

"Return, Rapidash. Now, my champion, it all depends on you! Go, MAGMORTAR!"

"Ouch," thought Lance: "This is one extremely powerful Magmortar, judging by its appearance. This one's going to be hard." He shouted: "Aerodactyl, use Rock Slide!"

"Magmortar, use Thunderbolt!"

Blaine was extraordinary lucky this time, as Rock Slide missed and Magmortar had no problem defeating Lance's Aerodactyl.

"Return, Aerodactyl! Now it's time for my last Pokémon. Go, DRAGONITE!

"Dragonite, use Thunder Wave!"

"Magmortar, use Thunderbolt!"

This time, Blaine was even luckier, as Thunderbolt landed a paralysis status on Dragonite, which was then unable to attack.

"Magmortar, now use Confuse Ray!"

"Dragonite, use Outrage!"

However awkward it sounds, even though Dragonite was both confused and paralyzed, it successfully attacked, and damaged Magmortar quite badly.

"Magmortar, use Thunderbolt!"

Dragonite was locked in its Outrage, which now failed and it hurt itself in confusion. Thunderbolt nearly killed it itself and the confusion damage was just the ultimate blow which concluded the match.

"Return, Dragonite."

Lance was quite shocked, but as mentioned before, there was nothing to lose, so he accepted defeat without unnecessary drama. Instead, he made his way across the stadium.

He shook Blaine's hand and said: "Congratulations. It was a good, difficult match, but you won fair and square. I think it would be in place to thank you for the overwhelming amount of experience, you provided me with, during this match."

"Oh, that's no problem. I used to be a gym leader, it's my duty to battle whoever wants to," Blaine replied.

"I see. And despite you're a gym leader and a much more experienced trainer, it bugs me horrendously that I lost, especially because you clearly had a type disadvantage. I've never met a Fire-type trainer against whom I'd have any trouble winning, while on top of that I even lost against you," Lance continued, visibly annoyed.

"Well, what can I say? You'll be even better when you reach my age," Blaine tried to comfort him.

"It's not about that! I want to be that good now. I'm the current Indigo Plateau Champion, I shouldn't have lost against anyone," Lance almost got started to shout. He continued in a much more silent voice, almost timid: "I have a request, sir. Quite a big one, but it would really mean a lot to me, if you accepted it. Would you please take me as a student? I beg you. Could I just stay on this island for a while, have you tutoring me? Would you do that?"

"Oh, no need for such humbleness," he softly replied. "Take a look around you, do you see anything I have to do? Everyone had left me, all I have are those Pokémon. So there really is no problem if you stay. Not just that, I'll be happy if you did."

Lance almost got down on his knees and kissed his shoes, but then he remembered he was a League Champion and such gesture might not be the most appropriate. Instead, he just said: "Thank you very much, sir. I promise you that I'll be of great help here. Whatever you want me to help you with, just say it."


End file.
